Wednesday, 31 March 2010

In this seventh adventure in the blockbuster series, an army of fairy space probes have returned to Earth reprogrammed to destroy Atlantis—and only Artemis Fowl can stop them. As he races to save the subaquatic city, the young mastermind must also combat an onslaught of obsessive-compulsive and delusional disorders, both byproducts of prodigious intellect and immense stress at an early age. In his signature pairing of suspense and comedy, Eoin Colfer has woven another masterpiece sure to delight fans of the series and draw in a host of new followers.

Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I hooked my feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth and me by the backs of our shirts, I gave the thermos cap a quarter turn. Instantly a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled us sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

I'll be checking out everyone else's teasers later this evening but now it's nap time! =D

Monday, 29 March 2010

Roz's sister, Eva, is perfect. So perfect that Roz would quite like to be just like her. The only problem is that Eva is better at everything and the boy Roz likes is Eva's boyfriend.

On a whim, backed up with only the tiniest amount of evidence, Roz decides that Eva might be a lesbian. To help her sister come to terms with this, Roz decides to come out herself - even though she isn't gay, or at least she doesn't think she is.

Throw in theater-geek friends, a new boy, a Shakespeare play and Roz's wacky fantasies and you're in for a fun and dramatic read.

The characters in this book were really likeable and by the end of the book I felt like I knew them all. Roz is the narrator of the story and so everything is seen from her slightly obscure point of view. I don't usually get on so well with books written in the first person but I actually didn't really even notice that this one was as I was so into the story right from the start. A fun element is added to the writing with Roz's daydreams. To start with these were a little confusing but at the same time made me laugh and once I got used to them it was a lot easier to make sense of them.

Shakespearian language is used throughout the book, both when the characters are rehersing their play, As You Like It, and the group have a thing about throwing it into every day conversation. This could have gotten confusing or off-putting for some but on most, if not all, occasions an explaination was given as well.

Some serious teen issues are dealt with in this book from sexuality to parental problems with a whole load of other stuff but they are put across in a light-hearted and sensitive way. I think any teen, young adult (or anyone really) would not only benefit from reading this book but it's a fun and entertaining read at the same time.

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey. Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week.Please comment or leave a link to let me know what you're reading this week!

The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor -- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.
And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

It's bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn't a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he's been trained at Ankh-Morpork's famed assassins' school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun. First, there's the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad -- a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal -- not to mention a headstrong handmaiden -- at the heart of his realm.

Trella is a scrub. She lives in the lower levels of Inside with all the other scrubs - or at least she's supposed to. Trella mostly lives in the pipes. Her job is to clean them but she also prefers to be there when she's not working. Trella doesn't like scrubs much so she'd rather be on her own ... except for Cog.

Cog is Trella's best friend and almost like a brother to her. They grew up in the care facility together and he's the only one Trella trusts and cares about. That's why she agrees to talk to the Prophet. She hopes she can convince Cog that the prophet's tales about Outside are wrong. Instead, she finds herself involved in a revolution.

Inside Out is an amazing, action packed fantastically written story full of twists and turns that keep you guessing what is going to happen. Everytime I thought I'd worked it out, something happened to make me think otherwise.

The book throws you straight into the action. The rules and customs of Inside aren't explained outright but you pick them up as the plot develops which is a great way to do it. If it had all been set out at the beginning it would have been a slow start.

The characters in this book are great. It's obvious that they all have a detailed backstory that fleshes out their personality and they all have their own important part of the plot. While Trella isn't the most loveable character, I definitely found myself identifying with her. Living in a cramped over-populated area, It's fully understandable that she'd much rather be elsewhere. Her doubts about Outside existing and her efforts at not becoming close to the other scrubs are just her way of not being hurt or disappointed later on.

Saturday, 27 March 2010

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. All excerpts from Goodreads unless stated.

Bought:

Supernatural: Rising SonSet in the time before John Winchester's disappearance (and the beginning of the TV series), the demon hunter is crossing America with his two sons Dean and Sam, now aged 11 and 8, in a desperate quest to find out what happened to his missing wife. But is the life of a demon hunter truly the life John wants for his boys?

Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.
Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.
Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.

Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.
Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he's determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy.
Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle?

Life on the Hellmouth -- a.k.a. Sunnydale, California -- has always involved a steady parade of demons intent on ruining Buffy Summers's nightlife. Staying at the top of her game means Buffy's racked up some powerful enemies.
Now an old nemesis has returned: Ethan Rayne, a college "friend" of Giles's, has arrived in Sunnydale, and this time he actually wants Buffy's help. Not surprisingly, he's run afoul of The First -- an ancient evil that predates humankind. And now The First has made Ethan a deal he can't refuse: ultimate power. All he has to do is lure Buffy into battle.
With their sanity on the line, the gang is going to need all the help they can get. Enter Spike and Faith...

For Review:

My Invented Life - Lauren BjorkmanWith Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest—who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.
Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

Zoey's gone from having three boys to none in the matter of a week. On top of this most of her friends aren't talking to her because she's been hiding stuff from them. If only they knew there was a very good reason for her not telling them. Her mentor has turned evil and the only people she can talk to is her rival Aphrodite and undead Stevie Rae. It's not easy being a fledgling vampire and leader of the Dark Daughters.

Well, the further into the House of Night series I get, the more I like them. The first two didn't strike me as wonderful but I kept reading because I wanted to know what happens. The third showed signs of improvement and this one, the fourth, seemed to have lots of the parts that annoyed me in the others.

The characters are developing more and more and I'm starting to connect with some of them. I've also started to realise that some of Zoey's group of friends really annoy me though. I don't like The Twins, I'm not sure why, I jsut feel like telling them to shut up every time one of them speak. Jack bugs me in a too cute, giggly kind of way as well. Damien is growing on me slowly. The actual character I liked the most in this book was Aphrodite. I mean, I know she's a bitch and all but now we're starting to see why she acts how she does. To me she's the real kick-ass one who knows what to do in a crisis, as she shows towards the end of this book.

Plotwise this book was better as well. The story moved quicker and there was a lot more action. There was also a lot less repeating of what had already happened. It feels like we're properly in the story now.

Friday, 26 March 2010

It's ten years after Nan was fired from her Nanny position with the Xs and she's returning to New York. A late-night drunken visit from Grayer X - now fifteen - draws Nan back into the lives of the family. Feeling guilty for abandoning Grayer all those years ago, Nan finds herself agreeing to help him and his seven-year-old brother, Stilton, through their parents divorce.

I'm not usually a chick lit fan but as I'd read the Nanny Diaries I figured I'd give it a shot.I also quite liked the film of the original - although I think that was mostly due to Chris Evans being 'Harvard Hottie' lol!

Generally my thoughts were that this book was ok. Some bits were good, some a little dull, in my opinion. There seemed to be too much filler information for my liking and it took me about half of the book to figure out what Nan was doing as a job. The general plot was ok but I'm not sure I really connected to any of the characters.

Hosted by Crazy For Books this is an awesome way to discover new book blogs! Just hop on over, sign up and then visit some of the others on the list. It's that simple! If you start following someone's blog through the hop don't forget to leave them a comment.

I've been featured in a post "5 Awesome Newbie/Newer Bloggers" over on Loud Words & Sounds, which you can find here. Please hop on over and check out Andrea's fab reviews and book stuff, as well as the other featured blogs!

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I've just started the two books these teasers are from so they're teasers for me as well this week!

Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder

Pushing scrubs out of his way, he aimed his stun gun at me. Without thinking, I grabbed a screwdriver from my belt and flung it at him.

Incarceron - Catherine Fisher

A curious, dreadful certainty swept over her that the room behind her was not empty, that he father was standing at her back, close enough to touch, his smile bitter. That the horseman she had seen leave had been his own holo-image, that he had outguessed her as he always did.

Monday, 22 March 2010

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey. Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week. Please comment or leave a link to let me know what you're reading this week!

With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest—who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade. (Goodreads)

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson is finding his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson, a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any normal friends. But things don't stay quiet for long. (Goodreads)

Where do you keep the books on the top of the tbr pile? Not the bunk of the mountain, but just the tip of the peak – the ‘almost up to’ books?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

Most of my books are kept in the spare bedroom. I have two shelves in the living room, one for my favourites and one for my priority tbr books (library books, review books etc). My next-to-be-read books are at the right hand side of this shelf. When I'm getting towards the last 50 pages of so of a book, I tend to have the actual next book with it - this can be on the coffee table, bedside table, in my bag depending on where I am (I tend to carry a book around the house with me so I don't have to go fetch one when I want to read). Not sure what I'd do if I finished a book and didn't have another one to start straight away!

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. All excerpts from Goodreads unless stated. Please comment and let me know what was in your mailbox this week or if you've read any, I'd love to know what you think!

Bought

When I take my Gran out shopping we tend to hunt the charity shops, mostly for books. Usually they're full of "old lady books" which is great for her but not so much for me. Occasionally I find one or two that I like so when I found six (!) the other day I was massively excited. These were from three different shops and cost me less than £10 for the lot! A couple of them even look unread!

Ah, Christmas! Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy, spending time with her friends in the city, attending ritzy balls, and on a somber note, tending to her ailing father. As she prepares to ring in the New Year, 1896, a handsome young man, Lord Denby, has set his sights on Gemma, or so it seems. Yet amidst the distractions of London, Gemma’s visions intensify–visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened, something only the realms can explain. . . . The lure is strong, and before long, Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world of the realms that Gemma alone can bring them to. To the girls’ great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship.

Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants...Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl's got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy--one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie's first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Succubus (n.) An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men. Pathetic (adj.) A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

Love hurts, and no one knows it better than Georgina Kincaid. If she so much as kisses her new boyfriend, she’ll drain his life force. Georgina is a succubus—a demon who draws her power from other men’s pleasure. Admittedly, the shapeshifting and immortality perks are terrific, and yes, Georgina did choose to join the ranks of hell centuries ago. But it seems completely unfair that a she-demon whose purpose is seduction can’t get hot and heavy with the one mortal who knows and accepts her for who she is.

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits;talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk; a lot. The undead are another matter.

Saturday, 20 March 2010

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post.

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

High school is hard enough when you’re normal. There’s peer pressure, book reports, the in crowd and the enormous zit that has a life of its own. Having a family whose skeletons in the closet lean toward the paranormal is not a topper on anyone’s list. Sophomore Kasey Maxwell is busy juggling the typical teen angst. Add visions, ghosts and hairy four-legged monsters into the mix and you get FREAKSVILLE. It’s a wonder Kasey has survived.

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Friday, 19 March 2010

Hosted by Crazy For Books this is an awesome way to discover new book blogs! Just hop on over, sign up and then visit some of the others on the list. It's that simple! If you start following someone's blog through the hop don't forget to leave them a comment.

Zoey's got a whole load of issues to deal with. Not only is she a fledgling vampyre but she also has an undead best friend, two boyfriends, a massive crush on a full adult vampyre and knowledge about what the High Priestess is really up to. To top it all, she can't share most of this with her friends and the only person she can talk to is her sworn enemy.

I really like the plot of the House of Night series and the further into I read the more I want to find out what happens.They're fun and easy to read and have a certain unputdownableness about them. I'm not so keen on the style of writing though. A little bit too much like a thirteen-tear-old's blog for my liking - which is fine on a thirteen-year-olds blog but, in my opinion, not so great in books. Still, it's YA/teen fiction and written in the first-person so I can tolerate it.

Some of the things that bugged me in the first few books weren't so bad in this one - namely the overly descriptive details of clothes etc. This was massively toned down which I was pleased about. There were still a few things that annoyed me though. In parts there seemed to be too much repetition, recapping what was in the previous books and on a few occasions what had happened a few pages ago.

The characters are developing well throughtout the series. In parts of this book I did feel like shaking Zoey and telling her to stop being pathetic but I think that was maybe the point. She was dealing with some confusing issues and making the wrong decisions but knowing what the right choice is and picking it are completely different things. We start to see a different side of Aphrodite in this world as well adding another dimension to her character, which is great.

Overall I did really enjoy this book and can't wait to get stuck into the next in the series.

Thursday, 18 March 2010

This challenge is being hosted by Marg at Reading Adventures. The challenge will start from 1 December 2009 and run through to 30 November 2010. There are several different levels of participation for you to choose from:

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Aleksander's life has been turned upside down. His parents have been killed and now he's on the run. Alek isn't any old orphan though; his father, Archduke Ferdinand, was ruler of the Austria-Hungary Empire and his death has opened up an opportunity to start a war. A chance for the Clankers to take over the world with their futuristic machines

On the other side of the war is Darwinist Britain, users of advanced biotechnology. Midshipman Dylan Sharp of the British Air Service isn't an average soldier either. Dylan's real name is Deryn and she's a girl. A girl in a time when there were no females in the armed forces.

Circumstances lead to Deryn and Alek forming a necessary alliance and eventually a friendship as they become part of an alternative Great War.

Wow! I'm not really sure how I'm going to do justice to this bundle of awesomeness. Yet again, Westerfeld's amazing writing doesn't fail to please in this alternative history of World War I, fusing old with new in an epic steam punk adventure!

I loved the two main characters of Leviathan. Westerfeld has a certain way of making truely likable characters but ensuring that they aren't perfect. They make mistakes and sometimes don't make the best of choices but this just makes them more realistic. Deryn has just enough kick-ass and gutsy determination to get her through a bunch of tough challenges but there's also a certain vulnerableness about her. Alek is well-educated and trained to a high level in combat with an air of pompousness about him that's to be expected from someone of his position but the longer he's on the run he learns to become more down to Earth.

At the start of the book, Deryn is sceptical about Clanker machineray and Alek is boardering on repulsed, or even scared, by the fabricated animals grown by the Darwinists. Essentially the story is about the coming together of these two opposing technologies and ideas.

If the great writing and exciting plot isn't enough, the illustrations throughout the Leviathan are truely amazing! Normally I'm not particularly a fan of illustrated books as I like to apply my own imagination to the story but I'm happy to make an exception in this case. With the futuristic machines and weird and wonderful animals, the illustrations complimented the written descriptions fantastically. I think I may have had troble getting my head around the Leviathan air ship without them!

It's hard to find fault with Leviathan but if I had to pick one thing that might not appeal to some readers is that it's very heavy on descriptions of the technology, science and battles. Personally I loved it but this aspect might not suit everyone.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

The first two books I got from the library this week were ones I'd ordered (and been waiting for ages for them to come in):

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week I'm giving you two teasers from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. The story is told from two points of view so I'm giving you a teaser from each.

Teaser One

She felt nothing but a roar in her ears, like staring into a headwind on the spine. Tears streamed from her face, freezing to her cheeks, but Deryn found herself letting out a wild, exultant scream.

Teaser Two

A quick search would prove that Alek wasn't in the castle, and it wouldn't take much imagination to figure out where he'd gone. Within a few hours Count Volger wouls be gazing at the grounded airship, drawing his plans and pondering the fact that the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was a complete idiot.

Monday, 15 March 2010

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey. Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week. Feel free to pile on a little extra.

I'm still reading Daughters of the Witching Hill. Again, as it's in ebook format, I've not been reading it much because I don't always have my netbook with me. I must make an effort to read it as it's actually been good so far. Trouble is I get distraced when I have the internet in front of me!

I'm reading another Scott Westerfeld book this week! Leviathan.I'm not very far in to it yet but loving it. It's very Steampunk which I haven't read much of before but might have to find some more (recommendations welcome)

Also in honour of the Formula 1 season starting up again, I decided to crack on with reading Jenson Button's My Championshipo Year. Eye Candy!

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons.

And I still have this as my next ebook when I finally finish the other one:

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about picture books.Do you have a favourite picture book, either from your own childhood, or reading to you children?PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

Here's two books that I used to love when I was little and now as a teacher I love being able to share them with classes of kids whenever I can.

Plop, the Baby Barn Owl, is like every Barn Owl there ever was, except for one thing - he is afraid of the dark. "Dark is nasty" he says and so he won't go hunting with his parents. Mrs. Barn Owl sends him down from his nest-hole to ask about the dark and he meets a little boy waiting for the fireworks to begin, an old lady, a scout out camping, a girl who tells him about Father Christmas, a man with a telescope, and a black cat who takes him exploring. He realizes that through these encounters that dark is super after all. (Goodreads)

Hairy Maclary goes off for a walk in town, followed by a few friends. All is uneventful until they meet Scarface Claw, the toughest tom in town, and run for home. The story is told by a brilliant, cumulative rhyming text and terrific pictures. (Amazon)

Sunday, 14 March 2010

Kari at A Good Addiction and Eleni at La Femme Readers are holding a joint contest to celebrate 400 and 800 followers respectively! The prizes look awesome and there will be 6 winners!

The rules, the entries, and the nitty gritty:

You must be a follower of BOTH of our blogs to be eligible. See that little box on the right hand side bar that says followers with all the nifty little avatar pictures? Yeah, that thing. Make sure you use that on each of our blogs to follow us both.

Hop on over to either of their blogs for more info and a link to the form you need to fill in.

Each of these five tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us.

This is a supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit ITV series! Twenty-three years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. Following the tragedy, their father taught the boys everything about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners of America...and how to kill it. Join Sam and Dean on an all-new monster hunt, in this original "Supernatural" novel.

The Midnighters of Bixby, Oklahoma, know that their town is full of secrets. These five teenagers are the only ones who know about the mysterious hour at midnight when the world freezes, except for them and the creatures that inhabit the darkness.

There's no place like home - just ask young mutant Kiden Nixon. She's survived the hard streets of Manhattan, and she's built a home - and a family - for herself, with her friends Tatiana, Bobby Soul, and his Li'l Bro. But with fewer than 200 mutants left on the planet, Kiden's become a target - and when somebody strikes at one of her friends, Kiden's going to find out just how much farther she can fall!

Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird – she’s become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast.

Still waiting for Chosen (House of Night #3) to come in - I ordered it weeks ago so I'll have to hang on to this one until I get that.